Extension of the C star rotation curve of the Milky Way to 24 kpc

Demers and Battinelli published, in 2007 the rotation curve of the Milky Way based on the radial velocity of carbon stars outside the Solar circle. Since then we have established a new list of candidates for spectroscopy. The goal of this paper is to determine the rotation curve of the galaxy, as far as possible from the galactic center, using N type carbon stars. The stars were selected from their dereddened 2MASS colours, then the spectra were obtained with the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and Asiago 1.8 meter telescopes. This publication adds radial velocities and Galactrocentric distances of 36 carbon stars, from which 20 are new confirmed. The new results for stars up to 25 kpc from the galactic center, suggest that the rotation curve shows a slight decline beyond the Solar circle.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in Astrophysic

Carbon star survey in the Local Group. VII. NGC 3109 a galaxy without a stellar halo

We present a CFH12K wide field survey of the carbon star population in and around NGC 3109. Carbon stars, the brightest members of the intermediate-age population, were found nearly exclusively in and near the disk of NGC 3109, ruling out the existence of an extensive intermediate-age halo like the one found in NGC 6822. Over 400 carbon stars identified have = -4.71, confirming the nearly universality of mean magnitude of C star populations in Local Group galaxies. Star counts over the field reveal that NGC 3109 is a truncated disk shaped galaxy without an extensive stellar halo. The minor axis star counts reach the foreground density between 4' and 5', a distance that can be explained by an inclined disk rather than a spheroidal halo. We calculate a global C/M ratio of 1.75 +/- 0.20, a value expected for such a metal poor galaxy.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic

C stars in the outer spheroid of NGC 6822

From a 2 x 2 degree survey of NGC 6822 we have previously established that this Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy possesses a huge spheroid having more than one degree in length. This spheroid is in rotation but its rotation curve is known only within ~15' from the center. It is therefore critical to identify bright stars belonging to the spheroid to characterize, as far as possible, its outer kinematics. We use the new wide field near infrared imager CPAPIR, operated by the SMARTS consortium, to acquire J, Ks images of two 34.8' x 34.8' areas in the outer spheroid to search for C stars. The colour diagram of the fields allows the identification of 192 C stars candidates but a study of the FWHM of the images permits the rejection of numerous non-stellar objects with colours similar to C stars. We are left with 75 new C stars, their mean Ks magnitude and mean colour are similar to the bulk of known NGC 6822 C stars. This outer spheroid survey confirms that the intermediate-age AGB stars are a major contributor to the stellar populations of the spheroid. The discovery of some 50 C stars well beyond the limit of the previously known rotation curve calls for a promising spectroscopic follow-up to a major axis distance of 40'.Comment: 13 page

Behavior of the Escape Rate Function in Hyperbolic Dynamical Systems

For a fixed initial reference measure, we study the dependence of the escape rate on the hole for a smooth or piecewise smooth hyperbolic map. First, we prove the existence and Holder continuity of the escape rate for systems with small holes admitting Young towers. Then we consider general holes for Anosov diffeomorphisms, without size or Markovian restrictions. We prove bounds on the upper and lower escape rates using the notion of pressure on the survivor set and show that a variational principle holds under generic conditions. However, we also show that the escape rate function forms a devil's staircase with jumps along sequences of regular holes and present examples to elucidate some of the difficulties involved in formulating a general theory.Comment: 21 pages. v2 differs from v1 only by additions to the acknowledgment

The Effect of Background Music on Reading Comprehension Test Scores

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of background music on reading comprehension. Would the playing of background music positively affect the scores on a reading comprehension test? A statistical analysis of pretest scores from the Degree of Reading Power test revealed that both classes were of equal reading ability at the onset of the study. The experimental classroom listened to Mozart\u27s Concerto No. 21, C Major, K. 467 for several weeks prior to the study being conducted, during Sustained Silent Reading time. The Metropolitan Achievement Test - Form L was administered to both classes as a practice. This was done to familiarize the experimental group with background music during a testing situation. Form M of the Metropolitan Achievement Test was administered several days later to both groups. A two-tailed t_test of the post test scores showed a statistically positive difference in the test scores favoring the experimental group. The experimental group with background music performed significantly better on the reading comprehension test

A Wide-Field Survey of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

The results of a photometric survey of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy are presented herein. Accurate photometry in two colours (V and I) was collected over a 10 square degree area centred on the Fornax system with the aim of searching for extra-tidal structure. The data were complete to a magnitude of V=20, or approximately one magnitude brighter than the Fornax red clump stars. Stars were selected with a colour and magnitude lying near the Fornax red giant branch, thereby reducing contamination from the field star population. We were thus able to probe the outer structure of this dwarf galaxy. Immediately visible was a shell-like structure located 1.3 degrees NW from the centre of Fornax, approximately 30 arcmin beyond the nominal tidal radius at this position angle. We have measured the absolute visual magnitude of this feature to be M_V ~ -7. The feature is aligned with a previously reported shell (age approximately 2 Gyr) located near the core radius of Fornax. A statistical analysis of the extra-tidal stellar distribution further revealed two lobes situated on the Fornax minor axis which are aligned with the two shell-like features. The two-lobed structure combined with the two shells provide strong evidence that Fornax has experienced a merger event in the relatively recent past.Comment: 79 pages including 24 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ, scheduled for the March 2005 issue. Some figures are low resolution, and a full version of the paper is available at the ftp address: ftp://ftp.mso.anu.edu.au/pub/coleman

The elusive old population of the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I

We report the discovery of a significant old population in the dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy Leo I as a result of a wide-area search with the ESO New Technology Telescope. Studies of the stellar content of Local Group dwarf galaxies have shown the presence of an old stellar population in almost all of the dwarf spheroidals. The only exception was Leo I, which alone appeared to have delayed its initial star formation episode until just a few Gyr ago. The color-magnitude diagram of Leo I now reveals an extended horizontal branch, unambiguously indicating the presence of an old, metal-poor population in the outer regions of this galaxy. Yet we find little evidence for a stellar population gradient, at least outside R > 2' (0.16 kpc), since the old horizontal branch stars of Leo I are radially distributed as their more numerous intermediate-age helium-burning counterparts. The discovery of a definitely old population in the predominantly young dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I points to a sharply defined first epoch of star formation common to all of the Local Group dSph's as well as to the halo of the Milky Way.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures, uses apjfonts.sty, emulateapj.sty. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

The extent of NGC 6822 revealed by its C stars population

Using the CFH12K camera, we apply the four band photometric technique to identify 904 carbon stars in an area 28' x 42' centered on NGC 6822. A few C stars, outside of this area were also discovered with the Las Campanas Swope Telescope. The NGC 6822 C star population has an average I of 19.26 mag leading to an average absolute I magnitude of -4.70 mag, a value essentially identical to the mean magnitude obtained for the C stars in IC 1613. Contrary to stars highlighting the optical image of NGC 6822, C stars are seen at large radial distances and trace a huge slightly elliptical halo which do not coincide with the huge HI cloud surrounding NGC6822. The previously unknown stellar component of NGC 6822 has a exponential scale length of 3.0' +/- 0.1' and can be traced to five scale lengths. The C/M ratio of NGC 6822 is evaluated to br 1.0 +/- 0.2.Comment: accepted, to be published in A